Implement for feeding nails



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

s. PERRY. IMPLEMENT FOR FEEDING NAILS.

Patented Sept. 25, 1883.

' INVENTOI? m (PA/W A Horne y (No Model.) 2 Sheets Sheet 2.

S. PERRY. IMPLEMENT PORTEEDINGNAILS.

Patented Sept.25, 1883.

H UNITED STATES PATENT Grains.

STUART PERRY, OF NEWPORT, NEWV YORK.

IMPLEMENTFOR FEEDING NAILS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 285,667, datedSeptember 25, 1883.

Application filed January 6, 1883.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, STUART PERRY, of N ewport, in the county of Herkimerand State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Devices for Facilitating Lathing; and I do hereby declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention,such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it pertains tomake and use the same.

My invention relates to an improvement in devices for facilitatingoperations of nail-driving, and particularly that of lathing, the objectbeing to provide a device for successively separating and delivering tothe fingers the foremost of a series of nails arranged in serial orderin a nail-magazine.

A further object of the invention is to pro vide an auxiliary devicearranged to support a nail-magazine and the nail-separating deviceaforesaid, and adapted to be adjusted to give right direction fordriving to the nails as they are delivered to the fingers.

With these objects in view my invention consists in anail-separating andan auxiliary device having certain details of construction andcombinations of parts, as will be hereinafter described,and pointed outin the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is aview in side elevation ofanail-separating de vice embodying my invention, the same be ingattached to a magazine for holding nails arranged in serial order. Fig.2 is a view of the device in horizontal section taken through the catchby which it is attached to the nail-magazine. Fig. 3 is a view inperspective of the device, showing also the lower end of anail-magazine. Fig. 4: is a view of the device in end elevation. Fig. 5is a view thereof in perspective, the separator being removed. Fig. 6 isa detached view of the separator. Fig. 7 is a view in perspective of theauxiliary device for supporting a nailmagazine and the separatingdevice; and Fig. 8 is a view of the auxiliary device in side elevation,showing the manner of attaching a nail-magazine to it.

The upper end of the separating device is provided with an open chamber,A, adapted to receive, interchangeably, the lower ends of thenail-magazines B, which are retained in (No model.)

place in the said chamber by the flanged outer wall, 0, thereof and thespring-actuated catch D, the same being pivoted to one of the side wallsof the chamber and arranged to engage with the flanged upper edge of themagazines. A plate, E, constituting, as it were, the frame or body ofthe separating device is traversed by a slot, F, which receives thenails and which virtually forms an extension of the nail-passage of themagazines. of this plate is cut away, as shown, to expose the centralportions of the shanks of the nails, the heads of which are supported bythe open extension G, while their points are inclosed' by the closedextension H. By cutting the plate E away in this manner, and therebyexposing the shanks of the nails,they are readily grasped by the thumband forefinger and removed for driving. 7

The separator I, which is pivoted to the rear end of the plate E, isprovided with arms J and K, which extend forward to the extension G,

011 opposite sides of the extension H. A

spring, L, attached to the outer face of the arm J, supports a pointedand beveled spur, M, the function of which is to successively separatethe foremost nail from the line, the spur being retained in its normalposition of constant readiness to advance and separate the foremost nailby another spring, N, attached to the inner face of the arm J and bearing upon the contiguous wall of the extension H. The object inmountingthe spur M upon the spring L is to permit the spur to yield incase it engages with a nail instead of passing between two nails, or incase a defective nail is encountered. A shield, 0, attached to the plateE, is designed to protect the arm J and its attachments from injury.

The arm K of the separator is provided with a spur, P, nominallyextending across the slot in the extension G, and located in front ofthe spur M. The spur aforesaid is retracted from its normal position, inwhich it prevent-s the line of nails from gravitating forwardsimultaneously with the advance of the spur M, to separate the foremostnail of the line, which is thus allowed to descend until it is arrestedby the engagement of its head with the arm Q, forming .an extension ofthe arm K, and extending diagonally across the outer end The lower endof the extension G, which is cut away, as shown at R, to permit the saidarm Q to set in flush with the upper face of the extension, thusoffering unobstructed progress to the heads of the nails.

It should be here remarked that as the separated nails fall past thespur P and are arrested by the engagement of their heads with the arm Qtheir points are arrested by engagement with the lower wall of theextension K. Aside from its function of arresting the nails as they areseparated from theline, the arm Q performs the important office ofeffecting the separation of the nails by actuating the separator itself,the said arm being pushed aside as the nails are successively removedfordriving, with the effect of rocking the separator on its fulcrum.

A shield, S, secured to the extension G, is designed to protect the sameand the heads of the nails located in its slot. It is provided with anoutwardly-extendiu g arm, T, arranged to engage with and elevate thesprings U of the magazines, the said springs being respectively,provided with pins V, which engage with the foremost of the lines ofnails in the magazines and prevent the same from discharging. IVhen theseparating device is attached to a magazine, it is of course necessaryto withdraw the pins from engagement with the nails to permit them todescend into the slot F of the plate E of the device.

Having fully described the construction of the separating device, I willnow proceed to set forth the method of its operation. At the V outsetthe act of attaching it to a nail-maga ,zine will engage the arm T ofthe shield S with the spring U and release the line-of nails, allowingthem to descend and enter the slotF of the plate E, the line beingarrested by the spur P of the separator, which is now operated by handto separate the foremost nail of the line and permit it to descend andengage with the arm Q. This nail is now grasped by the thumb andforefinger and removed from the device and driven. The act of removingthis nail pushes the arm Q aside and rocks the separator on its fulcrumin such manner as to enter the spur M between the nail now foremost inthe line and the nail immediately in the rear thereof. The nail thusseparated falls past the spur 1?, being arrested by the arm Q, which isrestored to its normal position across the slot in time to arrest andretain the nail. Vhen this nail is removed, the arm Qwill again bepushed aside, with the effect of actuating the separator in theseparation of another nail. It will thus be seen that, although theseparating device must be operated directly by hand in the separation ofthe first nail, the operation of removing that nail will separateanother, and so on until the charge of the magazine is exhausted.

The separating device, which has been described as being removablyattached to a magazine, is designed to be used interchangeably with anumber of magazines carried (may be) in a harness attached to the body.The adaptation of the device to be attached to the magazines may ofcourse be greatly varied, both 210- cording to its construction and tothe construction of the magazines. Instead, however, of interchanging asingle separating device with a number of magazines, each magazine mayhave a separating device attached perma nently to it.

All operations of nail-driving are facilitated by delivering the nailsto the fingers in the most convenient position for driving, which varieswith the character of the work, the nail being grasped different] y. Forinstance, in lathing ceilings and side walls, I have made provision fordelivering the nails to the fingers in right direction for driving in anauxiliary supporting device from which the nail-magazines are suspended,the said support consisting of a bent rod, IV, adapted to be attached tothe operator in any desired manner, the upright portion of the said rodbeing provided with a sleeve, X, which may be rotated as desired. Theupper and lower ends of this sleeve are respectively provided with flatbearings Y an d Z, furnished with suitable attachments for engaging withthe upper and lower ends of the magazines, which are rotated with thesleeve and brought into the desired position for properly delivering thenails to the fingers.

Other devices maybe adopted for supporting the magazines. They may, forinstance, be suspended from a harness attached to the body, and suchharness may or may not be provided with an auxiliary supporting devicesimilar to the one described.

In view of the modifications suggested, and of others of which thedevices are obviously susceptible, I would have it understood that I donot limit myself to the exact construction shown and described, but thatI hold myself at liberty to make such slight changes and al teration asfairly fall within the spirit and scope of my invention.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination, with a portable magazine adapted to hold nailsarranged in serial order, of means, substantially as described, tosuccessively separate the foremost nail from the line and to retain theremaining nails in place, and means, substantially as described, toreceive the separated nails and engage with, their heads, the shanks ofthe said separated nails being exposed to enable the nails to be graspedthereby and removed for driving, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination, with a nail-magazine adapted to hold nails arrangedin serial order, of the separator I, provided with the arm Q, and means,substantially as described, to receive the separated nails and to engagewith their heads, the shanks of the separated nails being exposed toenable the nails to be grasped thereby and removed for driving,substantially as setforth.

3. The combination, with a portable magazine adapted to hold nailsarranged in serial order, of means, substantially as described, tosuccessively separate the foremost nail of the line, to receive theseparated nails, and to retain them in position to be grasped-by theirshanks and removed for driving, and means,

substantially as described, for supporting the g magazines, and forturning them from side to I 5 Witnesses.

STUART PERRY.

V Witnesses:

GEORGE F. DOWNING, GEO. D. SEYMOUR.

